St. Nicholas’ Chapel, Langstone

The chapel, which is situated in Langstone High Street, was built in about 1869 by Henry Williams Jeans and erected to the memory of Thomas Temple Silver, his wife’s second cousin. Henry was born in Portsmouth in 1804. He was briefly articled to a solicitor, but in 1824 was working in the dockyard where he was put in charge of the chronometers in the observatory. He then taught mathematics at the Royal Navy College in Portsmouth dockyard. After the RN College was closed temporarily in 1837 Henry spent three terms at St. John’s College, Cambridge, before returning to the newly reopened college where he was mathematical master from 1839 to 1866. In 1840 he became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and in 1848 he published “Handbook for the Stars”. He was also the author of books on plane and spherical trigonometry, navigation, and nautical astronomy. According to Alumni Cantabriensis Henry taught “for some time” at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich before he retired.

In 1866 Henry was elected churchwarden to Reverend Francis Seymour of St. Faith’s church, Havant. He and his wife, Susan were by now living in Langstone House, next door to Susan’s two remaining sisters, Jane and Catherine. Susan, who was born in Langstone in 1808, was the daughter of Thomas Bayly Silver, a trustee of Havant Independent Chapel. He died in 1819. Susan’s maternal grandfather, Richard Philpott, was a trustee of the Presbyterian Chapel in Chichester. However, in 1838 Susan, aged 31, and her sister Catherine, aged 34, were baptised as adults at St. Faith’s church and on 23rd June 1846, two years after her mother’s death, Susan married Henry Jeans there. They lived in Portsmouth until Henry retired.

In 1868 Susan and Henry were left £1,000 by Thomas Temple Silver the younger, an ironmonger and iron merchant of Woodbridge, Suffolk. Susan and Thomas were both great-grandchildren of Thomas Silver, cider merchant, who died in Havant in 1781. Soon after receiving this bequest, Henry and Susan who were both in their sixties and childless, embarked on building a large and distinctive extension to the property now known as Langstone Towers, together with an adjoining chapel. The attractive cupola on the house appears to have been modelled on the one at the RN College in Portsmouth. Part of the original house was pulled down in the 1960s to make way for two new houses.

When Henry died on 23rd March 1881, aged 76, his obituary in the Evening News stated that he was “highly respected in this district and spent a large sum of money in the erection of a small church where he himself held frequent religious services. He was assisted in this good work by the clergy of Havant. We understand that the services will not be interrupted as provision has been made by Mr Jeans for a sufficient endowment. Poverty was almost unknown in the village near his house and his demise will be bitterly regretted by all of his poorest neighbours.” Among the mourners at Henry’s funeral were representatives of the Portsmouth Beneficial Society, of which he had been an honorary member for nearly sixty years, together with twelve senior pupils of the Beneficial School, founded in 1784 to educate some of Portsmouth’s poorest children.

Susan Jeans died in April 1887, aged 79. Under the terms of Henry’s will all their real estate was auctioned, except for the chapel. The sale included several properties and forty-five acres of land, in Langstone, about half of which had been inherited by Susan when her mother died in 1844.

It was quite usual in those days for larger houses to have a private chapel, in which members of the family and servants would assemble for morning prayers, conducted by the head of the household. But there seems to have been more to Langstone chapel than that. A plaque on the wall states that “This building is set apart for religious teaching and erected to the revered memory of Thomas Temple Silver, of Woodbridge, Suffolk, who died May 6th 1868″. This form of words suggests that the chapel was intended to serve a missionary purpose. Other evidence pointing in the same direction is the reference in Kelly’s Directory of 1880 to “a chapel erected by H W Jeans Esq (Susan’s husband) to seat about 50 persons”. This sounds as though the chapel was used from the beginning for public worship.

The 1897 Havant Almanack shows that services at the Mission Chapel, Langstone, were being held on Fridays at 7.30 p.m. and Sundays in winter at 6.30 p.m. but the Rector’s Review of that year stated that the services were “not quite appreciated”. By 1901 the services were being well used and in the 1920s, the Rector started a Sunday school which was run by Miss Doris Norkett who was known as “Norkie”. She had about twenty pupils, mainly from the cottages in Langstone High Street. “Norkie” would arrive with her bicycle laden with materials and the children would spend the morning singing hymns, listening to Bible stories, drawing pictures and making models.

Although the chapel has never been consecrated, it was once the scene of a wedding, when, on 27th April 1926 Charles Longcroft, a well-known local solicitor, married Ethel Russell of Langstone House. Ethel’s father, Henry, was an oyster merchant and ran his business from the premises next door to Langstone House, now known as the Winkle Market.

Langstone Towers during the 1914-18 War was used as an auxiliary military hospital with up to 46 beds. 1,430 patients were treated and 125 operations performed. As late as 1932, the chapel building is described as a Mission Church in the Ordnance Survey map of that date. In the Second World War the Ministry of Aircraft Production took the house over and aeroplane parts were made in a factory in the large grounds and paddock, now occupied by Towers Garden and the Saltings.

Currently (2003), the house is divided into two self-contained flats and a Communion service is held in the chapel on the first Sunday of each month at 8.00am. The chapel, which seats about thirty-five people, is also used for occasional village coffee mornings and exhibitions. The dedication of the chapel to St. Nicholas, patron saint of sailors, is believed to be of comparatively recent date.

In the spring of 2002 the chapel roof tiles were re-laid, with the original wooden pegs being replaced by aluminium ones. In order to define its ownership, St. Faith’s simultaneously obtained formal title to the chapel from the Land Registry. Most Anglican churches or chapels have their altars at the east end of the building. The chapel at Langstone, like the United Reformed Church in Havant, has its altar at the west end. This may have been dictated by architectural considerations, or it may have been deliberate.

Researched by Ann Griffiths

“The Langstone Anchor”

The anchor mounted in the gravel garden of the Chapel was recovered from the “Langstone” wreck in the harbour close to the Old Mill by Mike Rogers and Chris Ellis in the summer of 2000. In its time, the “Langstone” had been a proud and hard working sailing barge built in 1900 by Apps shipyard, Emsworth for the gravel and ballast trade. In the latter years of her service she had a broken back and finally retired in 1940. In 1948, after an uneventful war, she made her last journey from Langstone Quay to her final resting place in front of the Old Mill where she was stripped of all her brass, copper and gunmetal by an unscrupulous character and the results of his handiwork now lie rotting in the mud. For a barge, that was such a “local character”, this was a sad end.

After much hard work, and following advice given by Margaret Rule (Director of Operations for the raising of the Mary Rose), the anchor was treated over a period of time to bring it to its present condition and to protect it from further corrosion.

Early in the spring of 2005 Mike Rogers built a concrete plinth and mounted the anchor on it together with a brass plaque. Our thanks to Mike for all of his hard work and generosity of spirit in putting the anchor on display for us all to see.

ST. NICHOLAS’ CHAPEL, LANGSTONE – LEAFLET

THE SILVER FAMILY

The chapel at Langstone, Havant, was built circa 1870 byHenry Williams Jeans FRAS, whose wife, Susan, was descended from the local, nonconformist Silver and Bayly families.

Susan’s father, Thomas Bayly Silver, was for many years a yeoman at Upper Clatford near Andover. Her mother, Sarah, was the daughter of Richard Philpott, a knacker and general dealer and a trustee of the Presbyterian chapel in Chichester. Thomas and Sarah had seven daughters; Susan, the youngest, was born 1807/8, shortly after her parents came to live in Langstone. Thomas Bayly Silver, who was a trustee of Havant Independent Chapel, died in 1819 when Susan was about twelve. In 1838, Susan Silver and her sister, Catherine, were baptised as adults at St. Faith’s church, Havant. On 23rd June 1846, two years after her mother’s death, Susan married Henry Jeans at St. Faith’s.

Thomas Temple Silver

The plaque at the west end of the chapel states, “This building set apart for religious teaching is erected to the revered memory of Thomas Temple Silver of Woodbridge, Suffolk, who died May 6th 1868“.

Thomas Temple Silver was Susan’s second cousin. He was born in Woodbridge where his father,Thomas Temple Silver the elder (born in Portsmouth in 1778 and baptised at Havant Independent Chapel), was an ironmonger. When his father died in 1855 Thomas the younger took over the business. At this time ironware was one of the main imports at Woodbridge, which had seven ironmongers. The 1861 census describes Thomas as an “iron merchant and ironmonger employing three men and one boy”. His wife, Emma, was the daughter of Reverend Thomas Felix Thomas, a Unitarian minister. When Thomas Temple Silver died in 1868 his estate was valued at £70,000. His respect for the sea was shown in bequests of £650 to the RNLI and £100 to the Woodbridge Shipwrecked Seamen’s Benevolent Society. There were legacies of £500 to each of Susan’s remaining sisters, Eliza and Catherine of Langstone, and one of £1,000 to Susan and her husband.

HENRY WILLIAMS JEANS

Henry was born in Portsea in 1804 and was the son of Joseph Jeans, a builder. He was briefly articled to a solicitor but in 1824 was working in the dockyard where he was put in charge of the chronometers in the Observatory. He then taught mathematics at the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth before it was temporarily closed in 1837. After spending three terms at St. John’s College Cambridge, Henry returned to the newly reopened RN College, where he was mathematical master from 1839 to 1866, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1840. Henry was the author of “Handbook for the Stars” (1848) and books on plane and spherical trigonometry, navigation and nautical astronomy etc. In his will he left his wife, “my own publications with the diagrams and stereotype plates belonging thereto and the stock of books remaining unsold and the copyright of the same”. According to Alumni Cantabriensis Henry taught “for some time” at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich but St. Faith’s Vestry Minutes show that in 1866 Henry was elected churchwarden to Reverend Francis Seymour and that he remained in post for six years An 1867 directory gives Henry’s address as Langstone House, a seven-bedroomed property next door to his wife’s two sisters.

Soon after being left £1,000 by Thomas Temple Silver, Henry and Susan, who were in their sixties and childless, embarked on reconstructing the property now known as Langstone Towers, and building an adjoining chapel. Most of the original house, which formed a large wing of Henry’s new house, has since been pulled down. The cupola, which he incorporated in the house, was probably modelled on the one at the former RN College in the dockyard, and reflects his interest in astronomy.

Henry died in 1881, aged 76. His obituary in the “Evening News” of 23rd March 1881 reported that Henry Jeans “died this morning after a long and painful illness. For many years he has resided at Langstone and was formerly well-known as mathematical master at the Portsmouth dockyard. He was highly respected in this district and spent a large sum of money in the erection of a small church where he himself held frequent religious services. He was assisted in this good work by the clergy of Havant. We understand that the services will not be interrupted as provision has been made by Mr Jeans for a sufficient endowment. Poverty was almost unknown in the village near his house and his demise will be bitterly regretted by all of his poorer neighbours”. Henry’s estate was valued at £25,000. A codicil to his will states, “I give and devise to my dear wife Susan, all that Chapel erected by me situate adjoining the house in which I reside at Langstone, to hold to her, her heirs and assigns for ever”. One of the executors of Henry’s will was William Samuel Gloyne who built “Glynfield” (now “Flint House”) which is situated in Mill Lane. William, a local brewer, had married Henry’s great-niece, Susannah Jeans, in 1876.

An account of Henry’s funeral reported that among the mourners were representatives of the Portsmouth Beneficial Society of which he had been an honorary member for nearly sixty years. Also present were twelve senior pupils of the Beneficial School, founded in 1784 to educate some of Portsmouth’s poorest children.

Extract from St. Faith’s Vestry Minutes, which are held by Portsmouth Museum and Records Services

Susan Jeans died at Langstone in April 1887, aged 79. Under the terms of her late husband’s will all their real estate was auctioned, except for the chapel. The sale included several properties and forty-five acres of land in Langstone, about half of which had been inherited by Susan when her mother died in 1844.

THE CHAPEL 1887- 2008

In 1897, the Rector’s review of parish work stated that Langstone services were “not quite appreciated” but by 1901 the Sunday services at “Langstone Mission Chapel” were being “well-used and appreciated”. During the First World War the adjacent house was used as an auxiliary military hospital with up to 46 beds. Altogether 1430 patients were treated and 125 operations performed but it is not clear to what use the chapel was put.

In the 1920s, the Rector started a Sunday School which was run by Miss Doris Norkett, who was born in Pook Lane in 1905. She had about twenty pupils, mainly children from the tightly-knit community living in Langstone High Street. “Norkie” would arrive with her bicycle laden with materials, and the children would spend Sunday morning singing hymns, listening to Bible stories, drawing pictures and making models.

In 1926, £3 9s 2d was spent on repairs to the chapel and 15s 3d on lighting. A gas repair in 1927 cost 2s 7d and the budget for a caretaker was £6. During World War II there was a factory in the grounds of Langstone Towers making aeroplane parts. In 1950 the response to the refurnishing of the chapel was very good and in 1952 Reverend D Caiger reported that the reopening of the Sunday School had been well worth while. The Sunday School was “No.6 in the range of groups catering for the instruction of young church people in Havant”.

The chapel was once the scene of a wedding. On 27th April 1926, Charles Longcroft, a local solicitor aged 40, married Ethel Russell aged 42, by special licence. Ethel was the daughter of Henry Russell, an oyster merchant, who lived at Langstone House and ran his business from the Winkle Market on the corner of the High Street. On this happy day the chapel was decorated with evergreen leaves and white flowers. The bride wore a typical 1920s mid-calf length dress of ivory silk georgette, silver shoes and a veil of old Brussels lace crowned with orange blossom and white heather. Her bouquet was of carnations and white roses. Ethel’s sister, the only bridesmaid, wore biscuit crêpe-de-Chine with a pale pink hat and carried a bouquet of pink and white carnations.

Sunday School at the chapel has been intermittent, being last resurrected in the late seventies for two or three years. In 1995 rising damp necessitated treatment and redecoration of the chapel at a cost of £1,635. A further £275 was spent on new carpets. Currently, a service of Communion is held on the first Sunday of the month. The chapel is also used for village coffee mornings and occasional social functions.

In 2002 the chapel roof was re-laid using the original tiles; the old wooden pegs were replaced by aluminium ones. At the same time the Church obtained title to the Chapel via a Statutory Declaration made by Audrey Currie, PCC Secretary. The Land Certificate is held by the Diocesan Board of Finance.

Inside the chapel there is a large painting of The Raising of Lazarus. There is also a memorial plaque in memory of John Morley (1914-1996) who wrote several publications on Langstone.